How does your Garden Grow

Thought I would share these with my CEF friends… They are all native to West Texas….They are in my yard so I give them a little more care than they would receive in the wild so they will bloom a little stronger….

WOW Robert those are some very beautiful flowers on the cactus , look a little scary too! The first one looks like star fish growing on the outer edges LOL Are they hard to take care of ?

I agree with Eric, they are beautiful look but try not to touch.

My mother used to buy the ones with the yellow flower and sat them on window sills. She nurtured them like they were her first born. Mom did have a "green thumb" something that regretfully didn't get passed on to me.

Thanks guys, They’re not that hard to take care of, I think particularly because they grow around here anyway…. I give those in the pots a little more water than those in the ground….They can go a long time without…. The blooms are short lived but very vibrant while they are out… I give them a token amount of general fertilizer right before they bloom..

Hi rdw777,
Beautiful plants. (not seen here)
I showed it to my 90yr old mother.
She went in the basement, hauled out some old tubers, Is that what we planted today.
For Mother's Day.
Her dementia is a wonderful thing
She says,
I will send you 'Cox Forum' photos.
Unconditial Love,
Is very stupid, or a very nice thing.
Love to All,
Dave

Thanks Dave…. Cute story on your mom…. You’re fortunate to still have her

I have an app on my phone called picture this.. you snap a picture of any plant or tree and it tells you what it is with a description and how to care for it. Also whether it is poisonous or not.

to you family's wives, daughters and granddaughters (if you are senior enough ) today.
¡Feliz Día de las Madres! a tus esposas, hijas (y nietas, si ustedes tienen los años suficientes ) hoy. (Otro países han celebrado ese día este miércoles pasado.)

You did not give my wife flowers or chocolates on Mothers day or any other day!!! Something substantial that lasts, Jewelry or equilivent passed muster.

By chance I'm wearing a shirt that my Mother made for me. After a sweaty morning of mowing and cutting down dead branches I had to change. Grabbed a shirt of out my closet and only later realized that Mom had made it for me many, many years ago. Mom was smart, talented and managed to keep my Father in check. No easy task.

rsv1cox wrote:You did not give my wife flowers or chocolates on Mothers day or any other day!!!  Something substantial that lasts, Jewelry or equilivent passed muster.

Is there anything that I say that doesn't meet your critical eyes? Who says, that to say, Happy Mother's Day requires that it be accompanied with some form of monetary or gratuitous compensation?

GallopingGhostler wrote:

rsv1cox wrote:You did not give my wife flowers or chocolates on Mothers day or any other day!!!  Something substantial that lasts, Jewelry or equilivent passed muster.

Is there anything that I say that doesn't meet your critical eyes? Who says, that to say, Happy Mother's Day requires that it be accompanied with some form of monetary or gratuitous compensation?

I must have missed something George or perhaps because I don't understand what you wrote in Spanish. My apologies if I said something that offended you.

One part I did not translate: Otro países han celebrado ese día este miércoles pasado. This means, Other countries have celebrated that day this past Wednesday. Those countries include Mexico and some other Latin American countries. Maybe I should have explained that.

When I saw, You did not give my wife flowers or chocolates on Mothers day or any other day!!!  Something substantial that lasts, Jewelry or equivalent passed muster., it raised a flag in my mind, because it was so directly spoken. You see, I meant it in general to the CEF community and wasn't specific to any individual or family. I meant no harm or hard feelings to anyone.

If I were to come home with flowers or chocolates, the first question would be, "Why did you waste our money on that?"
Tried the jewellery thing once.  Never going there again

Hi All,
I showed my 90yr old Mum, nice cactii flowers photos by rcd777.
Just to say, you do not have to worry about watering.
Down in the crawlspace she goes...
'I'll show them!' she says...
The tubers are planted now. (Mothers Day)
Good luck, Everyone !
(somehow I will have to learn how to send photos to you here)
Dad(95) and I(65) tag team, and are good.
Anyways,
I'd rather talk Tomatoes.
Started with two plants, in 2ft sq area. Results were good.
Had no idea what I was doing. 15yrs ago.
Today,
I mulch big time, use 1/4 of water, and have too many. Mulch means not weeding.
In less area than two 4x8 sheets of plywood.
Not hard to give away. Easy to freeze for next winter.
Most people, love my vine sun ripened tomatoes.
Ask me for my secret.
I tell them,
'I soak my feet each week'.
It is up to them,
To figure it out...
Take care,
Have fun,
Dave

P.S. Trellii around here holds tomatoes up.

One apple tree.  More apples than we can handle. Still eating stewed apple from the freezer from last year's crop.
Originally planted the tree at our son's request.  By the time it decided to fruit he'd left home, so on his recent visit home we got him, his partner and our grandson to harvest the crop.  They had to smuggle a few on the plane trip home. (Still within the country, so no quaranteen issues).






Nothing nicer than a sweet juicy apple straight off the tree.

Boy those look Good ! They look like a Winesap apple ? I love those but can bee hard to find , usually not sold in the stores for some reason. I had pears running out the Wysue last year but pretty sure the frost/cold weater after a warm start got the best of it this year . Got a Fuji apple tree but it just don't want to bear or grow good for that matter . Tree looks health !

Thanks Eric. This is about the third huge crop of fruit we've had from that tree. For some reason it occasionally misses a season. I guess it needs to be pollinated to bear fruit and I don't know where the nearest tree is. Each year we need to keep it covered with netting because the birds competely strip the tree.

I'm not 100% sure of the variety but I think it may be Pink Lady. I suspect we have different varieties between northern and southern hemispheres. We sorted out the fruit by quality. About 1/4 were beautiful and looked as good as store-bought fruit. Probably half had serious spotting on the skin, but didn't effect the quality or flavour. The rest were either small or marked by insects and birds, but all of them taste pretty much as good as you can get. What we don't eat can be cut up and stewed for freezing, apple pie, apple crumble, whatever we like. We've given away bucket loads.

Apple pie Rod, my downfall. Mom used to make them all the time in New Hampshire. I buy mine at Walmart with a carton of vanilla ice cream. I can count on adding a few pounds that week.

Winesaps. Haven't had one of those in years. Macintosh apples were the staples in New England. Used to love it when September/October rolled around.

Hi Oldenginerod,
Beautiful. Thanks. Great photos.
My recipe for too many apples is:
- 1/3rd pork. (add any spices if it is not brined/smoked, like Canadian Bacon)
-1/3rd 'sweated till sweet' onions. Worth the effort.
-1/2 the worst apples. Nastier the better. Leave the skin on. The seeds are like pepper.
Throw it in a slow pot.
Cook till the cows come home. ( I like oxymorons !) ~180F.
Season with maple syrup.
Try it. Throw in any rice/noodles/ vegetables on the way.

Mum has this weird 'Quince' bush. Every 8yrs? it bears fruit.
Bitter more than sweet. 95%sugar to make it a jam.
I like strong peppers, hotter the better.
This is well beyond bitter flavors.
This could be a year,
Take care,
Have fun,
Dave

Beautiful kids, home, and yard Rod…. The apple tree is very nice too

Oldenginerod wrote:Thanks Eric.  This is about the third huge crop of fruit we've had from that tree.  For some reason it occasionally misses a season. I guess it needs to be pollinated to bear fruit and I don't know where the nearest tree is.  Each year we need to keep it covered with netting because the birds competely strip the tree.

I'm not 100% sure of the variety but I think it may be Pink Lady.  I suspect we have different varieties between northern and southern hemispheres.  We sorted out the fruit by quality.  About 1/4 were beautiful and looked as good as store-bought fruit.  Probably half had serious spotting on the skin, but didn't effect the quality or flavour.  The rest were either small or marked by insects and birds, but all of them taste pretty much as good as you can get.  What we don't eat can be cut up and stewed for freezing, apple pie, apple crumble, whatever we like.  We've given away bucket loads.

We used to have 30 apple trees, and they never were very good quality unless they were sprayed throughout the season. We have moved and the neighbors have 3 orchards. When the apples just start to grow they pick and throw a bunch on the ground. If they are too close together or there are too many sucker branches the apples are small or the branches rub on them which gives them scabs. They spray a lot too. Bunch of Mexicans, Jamaicans and lately young girls from the far east come up for the summer to help. There are around 8,000 migrant workers in the county here for the cucumbers, peppers tomatoes and marijuana with monster greenhouses. Sometimes the tomato seconds are sold for a reasonable price but they often just throw them away to rot in the fields if the prices are too low or the cucumbers split or something. Stinky.

Rod, your grandson is a real cutey! Love the short natural Bermuda grass growing in your yard.

GallopingGhostler wrote:Rod, your grandson is a real cutey!

The ride in the wheel barrow is a tradition thing. Same barrow as our kids rode in, usually on a pile of firewood. Charlie enjoyed sharing the ride with the apples.